Electric railway.



Patented Feb. 2 6,A I90I.

l G.- H. DAVIS. ELEcTRlc RAILWAY.

(Application leBep't. 15, 1909.)

(un maar.)

In Ven to'r l 'ma Nonms PETERS nu.. PHomuTHo.. wAsHmToN. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.v

GEORGE H. DAVIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO FRANK R. FORD,

' GEORGE W. BACON, AND GEORGE H. DAVIS, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 668,711, dated February 26, 1 901.

Application iiled September 15, 1900. Serial No. 30,197. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern; p

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. DAVIS, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, city of New York, State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Railways, (Case 13,) of which the following is a description.

My invention relates to improvements in 1o electric railways of the type employing a working conductor in the form of a third rail arranged parallel with the Way and with which a contact-shoe, movable with the car, makes a top contact or, in other words, travels in I5 contact with the upper surface thereof.

My object generally is to provide a system of this character which can be installed cheaply, wherein the working conductor Will be rigidly supported, and in which the conductors.

zo will be eectively protected, so as to make the system entirely safe for practical purposes.

A further object is toimprove the construction and arrangement of the contact-shoe and its manner of support, alias will be more fully z5 hereinafter described and claimed.

In order that the invention may be better understood, attention is directedk to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the part of the car carrying the contactshoe, and Fig. 2 a section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 looking toward the Working conductor.

In both of the above views corresponding 3 5 parts are represented by the same numerals of reference.

The ties 1 of the way are of the ordinary character, except that certain of said ties 2 are extended to one side for the support of 4o the Working conductor. The ties 2 are arranged any suitable distance apart; but ordinarily about ten feet between centers will be advantageous. The ties 2 carry pedestals 3, which are bolted or. otherwise secured in place and which are made of some suitable insulating material, preferably reconstructed granite,7 so called. On the pedestals 3 is clamped the Working conductor 4E, which is preferably in the form of an ordinary T-rail, 5o as shown, said conductor being formed, by

preference, of mild steel. The tread of this rail offers a wide bearing-surface for the contact-shoe, so as to withstand Wearin u'se. The working conductor is secured to the pedestals 3 in any suitable Way-as, for instance, by means of two-part clips 5 5', as shown, the part 5 of each clip being provided with a nut for clamping the clip-sections tightly upon the foot of the rail, so `as to hold the latter firmly in place. In order to properly protect the working conductor, so as to make the system safe for all practical purposes, I employ a continuous housing 6, made, essentially, trough-like in cross-section and which is secured to suitable brackets 7 or sustained upon such brackets by its Weight. This housing or casing is made of any suitable material, but preferably creosoted wood. The brackets 7 are bolted or spiked to the ties 2, as shown. At the other side of the working conductor I arrange a supplemental housing 8, generally angular in cross-section, which effectively protects the foot of the Working conductor and the clips 5 5', and this supplemental housing is also made, preferably, of creosoted wood, being secured in place by means of knees 9, which are bolted or spiked to the ties.

In order to supply current to the Gar motor .or motors, I employ a sliding contact-shoe,

which engages the upper surface of the working conductor and which may be carried by the car or cars on the Way. Preferably the contact-shoe is sustained by the equalizingbar of the car-trucks, since the relation between such bar and the working conductor remains practically unchanged in use. I have therefore illustrated a block 10, made of Wood or other suitable insulating material, as being clamped in place upon the side of the equalizing-bar 11 11 of a car-truck, said block carrying a lug 12 at its lower end, to which an arm 13 is pivoted on horizontal gimbals 14. The outer end of the arm 13 carries the shoe 15, bolted or otherwise secured in position and made, preferably, of case-iron, so as to minimize the Wear on the working conductor. The weight of the arm 13 and contactshoe 15 will ordinarily be suflicient to secure the desired closeness of contact with the working conductor; but it will be understood that such arm may be forced downwardly, il desired, by means of a spring,` or that said arm may be additionally weighted for the same purpose. Downward movement of the arm 13 materially below the top face of the working conductor is restricted by a rod 1b', adjustably connected to the insulating-block l0 and provided with a cross-head 17 at its lower end, which engages beneath the arm 13. It will thus be seen that in case of a break in the working conductor the arm 13 will not drop too far below the upper surface of said conductor to be properly received upon and engaged by the continuation thereof beyond such break, as in the case of a street-crossing or cut-out.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

In an electric railway, the combination of vice working in said slot and making contactl with the upper surface of the working conductor, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 6th day of September, 1900.

GEORGE H. DAVIS. Witnesses: y

FRANK L. DYER, JNO. R. TAYLOR. 

